Friday, June 24, 2016

Hey y'all! Today on the blog I have a new collection from Lolita Lacquer to share with you. This five piece collection is inspired by classic cars and their paint jobs that the maker, Mira has seen while accompanying her husband to car shows over the years. This collection, called the Lacq-Car Club Collection II is actually a sequel collection to a similarly themed one that she did last year. I have all five to share with you today, so lets take a look!

Jeep-ers was inspired by the pink Barbie Jeep. This bright pink crelly is filled with silver micro flakies which creates a girly and fresh summer mani. I used one thin coat and one thicker coat to reach opacity with Jeep-ers but you may need three coats depending on how you apply. This one dried to a satin finish for me so I did add topcoat. I had no formula issues, though due to the flakies, Jeep-ers was a little on the thicker side.

Keeping with the theme of silver flakies, this is Mint Mobile, a minty green crelly filled with silver flakies. Mint Mobile was inspired by all the classic minty colored cars with chrome fixtures. Probably one of my favorites, Minty Mobile was a perfect consistency, not too thick or too thin. It self leveled easily and was opaque in two thin coats. I applied topcoat because it did dry satin.

Gypsy Rose is a medium toned pink crelly filled with an assortment of glitter. This one is inspired by Gypsy Rose, the most famous pink lowrider in the world. I love the orange and purple glitter in the pink creamy base. This was another favorite for me because it was just so unique. I used two coats of Gypsy Rose for opacity. It was a little on the thicker side but easy to apply. It also self leveled easily. I added topcoat to this one for the same reason as the others, it dried to a satin finish.

Can we please just look at this blurple? I cannnnnnn't with this one, the shimmer is out of control! Bluevard Cruise was inspired by some of the most amazing car paint jobs in the world. Along with the shimmer, the blue flakies in the purple-y blue jelly makes a stunning combination. I used two coats of Bluevard Cruise for opacity and added topcoat for shine. No issues with self leveling or application.

Sancha is a green creme with pink shimmer. Sancha was inspired by a truck that Mira's husband had that he named the same name. Sancha is a spanish word for "the other woman" which I thought was such a cute name! As with the others, the formula and consistency were very easy to work with. I used two coats of Sancha for opacity and added topcoat for shine.

The Lacq-Car Club II collection launches on July 1st in the Lolita Lacquer store. The collection will retail for only $35 the weekend of the release ($40 after that) or you can buy them individually for $9 each. Don't forget to check out her Instagram for more swatches!

Do you guys ever go to car shows? Which is your favorite from this collection?

Thursday, June 2, 2016

Hey y'all! Today on the blog I am sharing the brand new Pop Rocks trio from Black Label Nails with you! This adorable neon jelly trio is the perfect led lighters trio with a bonus - they are black light activated and glow like crazy! Since these are so very sheer, I do not have traditional swatch photos to share with you, rather some photos of a mani that I did with them so you could see them in action. I also have a live video showing how they work, so make sure you click below to see that.

The main technique that these polishes can be used for is led lighting. If you've never tried led lighting or you're new to stamping - led lighting is the process used to "color in" stamped images after they've been stamped to your nail. Typically you will see this done over a white or silver base (silver holo is fun too!). In my mani, I chose to use a white base since these are neons so that they would pop more. I used UberChic Beauty plate #4-01 and my clear jelly stamper from BornPrettyStore to stamp the floral image on my ring finger. I waited for the stamping to be dry and then topcoated with a quick dry topcoat. Once it was all dry, I went back with the pink, Pop Rocks! Strawberry and filled in close to the flower's centers. Then I used the blue, Pop Rocks! Tropical Punch and feathered it in with Strawberry to create a gradient effect between the colors. I used the green, Pop Rocks! Green Apple to give the stems some color and fill in the blank spaces between flowers. I used a small detail brush from UberChic Beauty to led light but you can also use a dotting tool.

Another technique I did using the Pop Rocks trio is shown on my index and middle finger. I painted my base color black and used a white creme to dry brush over the black. Then I used all three of the jellies to dab color over the dry brush. I just used the brushes inside the polishes themselves to dab the colors over the white.

The final technique that I did using the Pop Rocks trio was a squishy marble using all three colors. On my pinkie, I painted a white base and then dabbed a bunch of random dots of color on my nail and went back in with my clear stamper and smooshed them together until they started to blend. I peeled off my liquid latex barrier and topcoated marble. I stamped another image over it in black and topcoated again.

I found the Pop Rocks trio very easy to work with for led lighting purposes and found them to be multi functional with other techniques as well. They blend nicely and they're the perfect sheerness to achieve a nice squishy look. They are also nice and bright and still give the neon effect despite being sheer.

If you're interested in picking this collection up, it launches tomorrow, June 3rd in the Black Label Nails Etsy shop. They will be full size only and retail for $9. Jennifer will be offering a discount for purchases of the trio so if you're interested in buying all three, email her for more information. You can also follow Black Label Nails on Instagram for information on future releases!